Moral Knowledge: Real and Grounded in Place

Recent work in ethics and epistemology argues that physical surroundings have normative force. The ideas of 'grounding knowledge' and 'real ethics' provide an important way to understand sense of place. This paper uses this work to argue that there is a moral structure to materia...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethics, place and environment place and environment, 2009-06, Vol.12 (2), p.175-186
Main Author: Preston, Christopher J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Epistemology
Ethics
Knowledge
Material culture
Morality
Morals
Physical environment
Place
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent work in ethics and epistemology argues that physical surroundings have normative force. The ideas of 'grounding knowledge' and 'real ethics' provide an important way to understand sense of place. This paper uses this work to argue that there is a moral structure to material culture, and that the existence of this moral structure makes it necessary for us to pay attention to the epistemic import of the physical environments we create and live in. Since environments are thick with moral norms, it is incumbent upon us to figure out what kinds of environments are most conducive to our shared visions of the good life.
ISSN:1366-879X
1469-6703
DOI:10.1080/13668790902863390